It's Christmas, My Birthday, Valentine's Day and Income Tax Refund Day all rolled into one.

For a moment, pretend like you are me and read this little email I received. 

Thank you for your interest in the Spokane Valley Fire department’s CERT (community emergency response team) program.

Our program follows the National CERT guidelines. The goal of our program is to teach members of the Spokane Valley community ways they can prepare to help themselves, their neighbors and their community in the event of an emergency that could overwhelm the fire department’s resources’ and ability to respond in a timely manner to these type of events.

Our program consists of 8 weeks if instruction, approximately 4 hours each night in the following areas; Fire suppression, emergency medicine, light search and rescue, emergency vehicle operations, disaster psychology. A back ground check will be conducted on all applicants due to the nature of the work.

There are a few requirements before we can admit you to the classes, they are as follows; You must be at least 18 years of age, you must pass a back ground check, you must attend ALL classes to receive a certificate, special circumstances will be considered with prior instructor notification and lastly, you MUST be a resident of the Spokane Valley and live within our area of jurisdiction.

Our adventure begins on Tuesday, September 11th.  I think I'll need pharmaceuticals to sleep a wink between now and that day.